Celebrating International Day of Happiness with family cooking

Happy International Day of Happiness Everyone!  What makes you happy? Well, go do it!

Today I reflect - nothing makes me happier than cooking for people, especially family.  I love holidays, feasts, celebrations, parties, guests.  Any opportunity that puts in front of me some people that I can cook for and, more importantly, watch eat makes me verrry happy.  I just love watching people eat.  I would actually say, in jest, it's a favorite pastime of mine and a great motivation for my culinary efforts :P

So, that's what makes me happy, feeding loved ones and having them satisfied and bellies full.  The following are a mishmash of some special dishes (in the sense that they hold special meaning to me) I have happily made for family and loved ones...

Starting with Vietnamese pho:

Gathering the essential flavours

$80 of flank, chuck, bone, and knuckle, for a good bowl of...

My mother, an amazing cook herself, taught me this one, my all-time favorite Chinese dish:

Schezuan-style pork and string beans

An old Quebecois lover inspired me to make pulled pork one day, and since then it has been one of my classics:

Pulled pork, crispy cayenne potato chips, and spiced apple-pear sauce

Chickpea squash stew on a cold winter day for the bro and sis

My classic salad, my classic dressing

Pear and roasted portobello mushroom quinoa

Bon appetit!

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

P.S. Today is also Ravioli Day, Kiss Your Fiancé day, Won't You Be My Neighbour Day, and Snowman Burning Day... all stuff I have to try next year.

Sweet Tooth

I've always been a sucker for sweets.

In fact, I have this personal goal to successfully make all sweets that exist in the whole wiiiiiide world by the time I pass away (hopefully not from diabetes type 2).  I am gluten-free, but that doesn't stop me from making wheat-based goodies as well and passing them around to friends, family, neighbours... street hobos.  When my mom calls from Toronto, one of her classic questions is whether I've stopped eating sweets yet (never mom, never).  When someone asks me to pick a restaurant, I will be largely biased towards one with impressive dessert selection.  When I go out with riends, they always know I will order dessert before dinner (how else can you ensure that you'll have enough room for dessert?)

So it's not a surprise that as I was sifting through last year's food photography to update the site, I found most of my creations were tooth-rotting-coma-inducing-lip-smacking sweeties.  Stick around because the next few food posts are shares of some old sweeties, many made specifically for some of my old sweeties, by this sweetie right here.

Hint: click the first photo to enter the photo viewer.

Taiwanese-style almond crisps, light and not too sweet

Salted toffee chocolate squares, heavy and very sweet

Crème brûlée, because I love playing with fire

Chocolate pots de crème, add cinnamon and a pinch of chili powder for a Mexican twist!

Chocolate caramel popcorn

Earl grey pots de crème

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

Happy International Women's Day

I wanted to try watercolour pencils for the first time and thought of my Nichole who...

inspires me to be my best

makes me laugh maaadly deeply, especially on google chat

shares my secrets in our crazy canto talk

is so dedicated to her job (I love that you love your job my love)

takes me and my busted knee swimming

is so darn beautiful – inside and out.

Happy International Women's Day, my woman.

Happy International Women's Day all.

Chloe Golightly
...on holiday.

chloelnlam@gmail.com

P.S. Today is also No Socks Day... but heck, I never wear socks anyway! :D